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You’ll notice that I haven’t listened to a lot of music this week. That isn’t strictly true, most of my music has been from my YouTube Watch Later playlist. If you’re not a regular YT user (I am and ever since I subscribed to Google Music, I use it even more — it comes with YT Red, which means no commercials) you may not know what it is. When you’re logged into your Google account and go to YT, as you browse videos you’ll see something in the upper right corner of the thumbnail that looks like a clock. That’s the add to watch later button. You click that and then you can save it for later. I have been doing that a lot and I had a ton of videos in there. But in preparation for hanging out with N this weekend, I wanted to clear them out so it’s just filled of English subbed videos. That meant most of the stuff I listened to (still kpop, of course) was on YT and not Spotify or Google Music.

Anyway, onto the fun stuff.

What I’ve Been Reading:

No new read harder books this week, maybe something next week, we’ll see. I’ll hopefully be reviewing the Jack Cheng book at some point.

Completed:

See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng

Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels, book 8)

Black Panther: a Nation Under Our Feet. Book Two by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze

What Did You Eat Yesterday vol 10 by Fumi Yoshinaga

Currently reading:

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (audio book – on hold)

Chapelwood: the Borden dispatches by Cherie Priest

Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino

Chimes At Midnight by Seanan McGuire (audio book: October Daye, Book 7)

What Did You Eat Yesterday vol 11 by Fumi Yoshinaga

What I’m Watching:

Completed:

I’m hoping to write up a review of TTM sometime soon, too.

Tokyo Tarareba Musume (Japanese drama)

Flash Point (HK film)

Brigadoon (1954)

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (documentary)

The Three Musketeers (1973)

Logan’s Run (1976)

Currently:

Totsuzen Desu ga, Ashita Kekkon Shimasu (Japanese drama)

Oh My Ghost (kdrama)

What I’m listening to:

Mostly a bunch of new groups. I can’t help it. It’s one of the best things about kpop, they’re the gift that keeps on giving. On Spotify, though, just two different kpop groups (one new, one not) and a great jazz musician.

Joey Alexander – Countdown

Seven O’Clock – Butterfly Effect

Monsta X – The Clan pt. 2.5 [Beautiful]

And a picture. Monsta X (above) is going to make their Japanese debut soon and their Japanese company has been releasing photos. Have one of my favorite member of Monsta X, Kihyun. I’ve shared him a lot, but he is my favorite, after all!

I finished another kdrama this week! My friend N and I, who saw SHINee together on Sunday, finished Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo on Sunday (before our concert, actually). It premiered back in August of last year and took us until now to finish it. It was 20 episodes and I plan to write up a review for next week. Suffice to say, we both enjoyed it for the most part.

I did not watch any new movies this week, alas. I was too busy with other things (like traveling!) but my dad is coming to visit me this weekend and I have a bunch of movies (including a musical) to watch. Anyway, onto the good stuff.

What I’ve Been Reading:

Reader Harder:

Read a book in which a character of color goes on a spiritual journey: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Read a classic by an author of color: Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

Completed:

Black Panther: a Nation Under Our Feet. Book One by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze

Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire (audio book: October Daye, Book 6)

What Did You Eat Yesterday volume 9 by Fumi Yoshinaga

Reading:

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (audio book – on hold)

Chapelwood: the Borden dispatches by Cherie Priest

Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino

Black Panther: a Nation Under Our Feet. Book Two by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze

Chimes At Midnight by Seanan McGuire (audio book: October Daye, Book 7)

See You In The Cosmos by Jack Cheng

What I’m Watching:

I haven’t started any new kdramas yet, but that’ll happen soon. Next week some time, I’m sure. I will also include the movies I watch in next week’s update.

Completed:

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (kdrama)

Currently:

Tokyo Tarareba Musume (Japanese drama)

Totsuzen Desu ga, Ashita Kekkon Shimasu (Japanese drama)

Upcoming:

Oh My Ghost (kdrama)

Strong Woman Do Bong Soon (kdrama)

What I’m Listening To:

I’m going to try a bit of a different format this time, so bare with me (similar, but also different).

SHINee of course! I saw them on Sunday night and it was fantastic! I feel very lucky to have seen them live. It was so good. Hopefully they’ll release a DVD and album of our concert, or at least one of the North American ones. Anyway, to listen to SHINee now, check your favorite streaming sites or go to Spotify:

Next up: BLANC7 as usual! I can’t get enough of them. Listen on Google Play.

And last up, one of my most favorite groups EVER: Monsta X! First of all, check out the music video for their new song, Beautiful (off of their new album, more about that below):

I love them a lot, y’all! Anyway, you can listen to their new song on Google Play or on Spotify and I cannot recommend it enough! Their new album is by far and away the best of their releases (and their stuff is pretty good all around). It’s 10 songs (!!!) and it makes me so happy. I’m really excited about this album and I hope they do well. I also hope they come to the US, because they’re one of the few groups that I want to see and haven’t yet seen. Please, Starship!

Anyway, give it a listen on Spotify (since it’s not embedding right now).

And, lastly, a photo to get you through the day. I went to the SHINee concert with Taemin as my favorite, but left with the guy below as my favorite. What are you going to do? It happens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Last week I talked about watching some musicals and one of those was Annie Get Your Gun. I knew, going in, that this musical was not a great one. I also expected it to be racist and sexist, but I honestly didn’t really know what I was in for. You can read my full review over on Letterboxd, but suffice to say that I pretty much only gave it one star because I like some of the songs.

Anyway, onto the actual, fun things.

What I’ve Been Reading:

Reader Harder:

Read an LGBTQ+ romance novel: The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

Completed:

Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indriðason (audio book on CD)

Reading:

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (audio book – on hold)

Chapelwood: the Borden dispatches by Cherie Priest

Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino

Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews

One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire (audio book)

What I’m watching:

The most recent two episodes of Voice have gotten really intense. There are only two more left. I can’t wait to find out what happens.

This is Kihyun, of the boy group Monsta X. They are one of my favorite groups and coming back soon. I’m going to try to include pictures of some kind, from now on, that make me happy. This teaser photo of Kihyun is one of those images! Look forward (maybe … you may not be doing that, actually, but shhh) to more (probably kpop related) photos.

Some weeks are harder than others and this was one of those weeks. Luckily I have plans tomorrow and Saturday, so that’s a very good thing. I didn’t really finish music this week — just one book — and my audio book expired on Overdrive so I’m listening to an actual book on CD.

What I’ve been reading:

Read Harder

Read a superhero comic with a female lead: Storm Volume 1: Make it Rain by Greg Pak, Victor Ibanez, and Scott Hepburn

Completed

The Divine by Tomer Hanuka, Assaf Hanuka, and Boaz Lavie

Reading:

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (audio book – on hold)

Chapelwood: the Borden dispatches by Cherie Priest

Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino

Reykjavik Nights by Arnaldur Indriðason (audio book on CD)

What I’m watching:

I finished Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko, which had a really weird twist toward the end that I’m not sure I liked. I also loved Get Out and highly recommend it. South Pacific was an interesting movie, but I dislike the way it ended.

This past week was the one after my birthday and it was all right. I finished a kdrama and a couple of books. Go me! I also ended up listening to some non-kpop music, which was a change. Some of it was Korean, but I did listen to a Mandopop singer from Taiwan. This weekend should be fun, too.

What I’ve been reading:

Read Harder:

Read a fantasy novel: Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal

Completed

Volumes 6, 7, and 8 of What Did You Eat Yesterday? by Fumi Yoshinaga

Blood Strikes (Kate Daniels series) by Ilona Andrews

Reading:

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (audio book)

Chapelwood: the Borden dispatches by Cherie Priest

What I’m watching:

I finished Squad 38, which I should write a review for. It was really good, much better than I expected it to be, actually.

Voice (Korean drama)

Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko (Japanese drama)

South Pacific (musical)

Get Out (movie)

What I’m listening to:

DEAN

A very good friend of mine, N, finally got me to listen to him, because he’s one of her favorite artists. I resisted, as I am wont to do, but eventually gave in and man, I’m glad I did. His music is really good. You can find it basically everywhere. Please give it a listen.

A lot has happened this week, not all of it great for the country, but some of it great for me. I bought tickets to see a kpop group, B.A.P, in Chicago in April. My friend N ended up getting a ticket, too, so we’ll go together. We’re also planning to go see SHINee in Toronto — hopefully we can get tickets! They go on sale next Sunday. And today, Friday, we’re headed out of town for another kpop concert (B1A4, for those of you playing at home).